


Three Drabbles: Icarus, Mea Culpa and Strange Comfort

by Fides



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Drabble Sequence, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-05
Updated: 2008-04-04
Packaged: 2017-10-03 05:30:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fides/pseuds/Fides
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three drabbles related to the Season 2 finale - Exit Wounds</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Icarus

One last thing that needed doing. One last person to tell.

"Diane, I have some bad news: Owen's dead. I'm sorry."

She looked at him, uncomprehending.

"He saved the city," Ianto tried, as if could make the information more fathomable.

There were clouds in her eyes, a uncharted vista through which she could fly.

"Owen?" she said slowly, "he took me dancing?"

He wanted to say something encouraging but the words got stuck. He nodded.

Fretfully she withdrew. "Don't let him see me like this."

"I won't," he promised.

Around the corner, Joshua screamed. Ianto wished he could join him.


	2. Mea Culpa

Jack didn't count each time he died; he named them. The first was 'Gray'. After that he went through every person he had hurt, killed, betrayed, tortured... every person he owed pain to. He ran out eventually. Reaching 'Ianto' he knew he was getting close to the end.

After that he made up names knowing someone who fit would cross his path eventually. Pre-emptive penance for sins yet to be committed.

'Find a focus' - a lesson from the belly of the Valiant. It kept him sane as he clawed his way back to another death.

He deserved every one.


	3. Strange Comfort

They stood on a high place, barely touching and said nothing.

People didn't get them because they thought in 'lifespan' rather than 'lifetime'. Even Gwen who believed she understood.

Ianto knew. Flat Holm was paid for by their pension fund because if all the Torchwood pensioners got together they couldn't field a chess team. Torchwood was a terminal disease, the only cure a swift and thorough cauterisation. Symptoms varied but it was just a question of whether the mind succumbed before or after the body.

Ianto would be with Jack until he died. Every moment till then was palliative care.


End file.
